Blind-Spot Collision Warning System

Arslan Zulfiqar Talip Ucar

Why Blind-Spot Warning System

Vehicle accidents cause annually1:

40,000

deaths 3.5 million injuries

More than 800,000 vehicles in lanechange blind-spot collisions annually2.

Objective
Monitor blind-spot for vehicles. Detect vehicles in blind-spot. Display distance of vehicles in blindspot. Sound warning on turn-signal, if object present.

Schematic

Start Program

Send Trigger

Echo Pulse Goes High (start timer)

Echo pulse Goes Low (stop timer)

Read Timer

Calculate Distance

Beep Distance < 3m And Turn Signal on

Display on LCD

Dont Beep Distance >3m Or Turn Signal off

Sensor Module

Distance (cm) = t us / 1000000 us/s * (347m/s) * (100 cm/m) / 2

Sensor Module
Distance Range vs Degree
350 300 250

Distance Range

200 Distance Range 150 100 50 0 0 10 20 Degree 30 40

Sensor Module

Range: 10-300 cm Voltage: 5v Current: 30 mA typ. 50 mA Max. Frequency of sonic bursts: 40 KHz

LCD module

Module Testing

Module Testing
Object placed at (observed with ruler): 30 cm Object placed at (observed on LCD): 34 cm

Calculated distance (from waveform)= (1800 /1000000)*(347)*(100/2)= 31.23cm

Module Testing
Pulse width changes with distance

Module Testing
Distance (ruler)
10

Distance (LCD)
14

Pulse width (us)

520

Distance (calculated from scope)

9.022

20

24

1100

19.085

30

34

1800

31.23

40

44

2400

41.64

Module Testing
Error on LCD
0.45 0.4 0.35

Error ( percentage )

0.3 0.25 Series1 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 Distance (cm)

Module Testing
Error on the Scope
0.12

0.1

Error (percentage)

0.08

0.06 0.04

Series1

0.02 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 Distance (cm)

Successes
Detects presence of objects. Measures distance of objects. Displays distance on LCD, if object is present else displays that there is no object. Gives sound warning if object present in the range and turn-signal high.

Failures and Modifications

Cannot detect if sensor is blocked because sensor doesnt behave well at very close range i.e., < 6cm.

Sensor is poled periodically instead of when turn signal is high as originally proposed.

Challenges
Learning PICS programming. Interfacing PICS with a serial LCD through the RS232 serial output. Controlling when to sound the warning. Keeping cool when the sensor burnt out one week before the demo!

Recommendations

Have the ability to change units of distance being displayed on LCD. Have the ability to increase volume of the warning as the object distance decreases when turn signal is high. Have the ability to switch off sound warning by the user. Have the ability to change the distance range

References

[1]:http://www.rvtechstop.com/articles/vora d1_s.pdf
[2]:http://www.sae.org/automag/features/fu turelook/03-2005/1-113-3-108.pdf

Questions ?

Special thanks to Prof. Carney and Chirantan Mukhopadhyay